Cpne

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Feb 14, 2006

Just memorize the study guide that they sent you. Know those critical elements through and through. Find some good way of keeping stress under control. Depending upon your clinical experience, practice the skills at home on kids/pets/plants (for IV drip rates), etc. I had a great experience at Racine and passed first try without any retakes. I have read from several on these forums that they believe alot of it is luck w/ which CE's you get. You might want to do a search of these forums for some others insights on the whole process. Good luck

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Feb 14, 2006

Moved to Distance Learning forum.

gstrahan · Feb 14, 2006

There is no way you can just wing this exam. You absolutely must know the critical elements for each area of care. Find or make up a mnemonics for everything and have all them etched into your brain so that when you haven't looked at it for six months, you'll still be able to recite them. You don't want to spend a lot of time trying to remember what do to while your on a 2.5 hour time limit. There is plenty of time to finish and double check your work if you have planned well.

I just passed this weekend at Grady in Atlanta. The examiners were all friendly and fair. At least 5 of 6 passed. I'm still trying to find out about one who had to retest one pcs, all the rest of us passed with only one person having to retest a lab, no other repeats. I recommend the site, but I believe you can go to any site and pass if you are prepared.

I went to a workshop in San Jose, California. It is not affiliated with Excelsior but the instructor is a former excelsior graduate. I feel that taking that workshop was instrumental in my success. The web site is www.cheducation.com . Go to the testimonials and read what her students have said about her class and how it effected there success. I've heard several people that have gone to her class, the Excelsior workshop and Chancellor's and they've all said hers was the best, hands down. It is also the most affordable at 500 dollars for 4 twelve hour days. You have to remind her to take bathroom breaks. She packs in a lot of information in those 4 days. All of the people that were in the workshop with me except for one have already taken the CPNE. All of them passed, most of them with no repeats. The last one will take hers in May. That's a pass rate of 100% so far out of my workshop. The average pass rate is less than 70% for all CPNE takers.

You can pass this thing without taking a workshop, but this will give you confidence, experience with the labs, as she has several of each lab station set up just like at the CPNE lab, and I believe it will greatly improve your chance of success.

Good luck,

Gina

Graduate Nurse